Telemedicine, providing medical consultation, testing, and advice over electronic communication pathways to people at locations remote from the medical personnel providing the care has been in development. However, most doctors and patients have been reluctant to depend on telecommunication and computer technology to perform such an important role in medical care having potential life or death consequences. Traditional medical training teaches that a good doctor should interrogate the patient face-to-face, examine the patient personally, and discuss diagnostic and treatment considerations, again, face-to-face. Those who can still remember reminisce about the days when doctors had the availability to make house calls and spend considerable time with each patient to establish a personal relationship over the course of many years. As increasing demands have been placed on both doctors and patients, the paradigm for medical care has evolved to require patients to travel to seek medical care. In an effort to control costs, patients are encouraged or required to seek the least expensive care for their condition. However, patients typically are not qualified to diagnose their own medical condition and determine an appropriate medical professional for treatment, whether a nurse, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, physician, specialist, etc. Even if the patients properly diagnose a medical condition, or properly determine that specialty care is needed, those who participate in a managed care plan typically are required to visit their general practitioner or primary care physician for a diagnosis and referral for specialized care. Each visit may require waiting several days or weeks to schedule an appointment, traveling to a different office or medical center, completing additional paperwork (by the patient and physician), and waiting on the day of the appointment at the point of service, all of which takes time from otherwise productive activities.
The rapid and spectacular developments in telecommunication and computer technologies have brought countries and continents closer and closer together. With all of the available conveniences, people are reluctant to wait for anything. The need to communicate instantly with friends, relatives, and business associates, irrespective of location has become the order of the day. Cellular phones, and more recently satellite phones, are so commonplace that they are considered part and parcel of daily life. However, in spite of the availability of this technology, it still remains a difficult and ill-structured task to consult with a doctor when one is needed, especially when away from home or out of town. Patients often must travel significant distances, rearrange schedules, and make other accommodations and concessions and to seek care. As such, many patients may not seek care soon enough for optimal treatment, and/or may forgo follow-up care.
While some prior art telemedicine strategies have attempted to overcome one or more of the problems identified above, none have used sufficiently sophisticated, yet user-friendly and easy to use diagnostic/treatment tools, in combination with integrated audio and video to make both physicians and patients comfortable with delivering medical care remotely.